Recording - March 2017 - 51

Surround Sound" because it gives the
impression of surround monitoring with
no special equipment or codecs, from a
simple stereo signal. It may sound like
mumbo-jumbo, but believe me, it works!
Okay, so these aren't the best headphones for stereo mix checking. What
about other uses? Pretty much everywhere else, the PRO 900i excels. When
you listen to a stereo mix on this headphone, it seems to disassemble itself like
an exploded view of a complex machine,
with each individual element of the
mix occupying its own unique place
in the wide and deep soundfield. You
can imagine the sound sources floating
around your head and point to them as if
they were really there in front of you. For
detailed sound editing and really rigorous listening to audio repair, there's nothing
like them. I used them to spot tiny audio
problems in a live performance that I was
preparing for release, and was able to
edit the stereo mix to perfection where
other headphones obscured the glitches
or hid them entirely.

As an iso booth confidence monitor,
the PRO 900i is wonderful. Its earcups fit
flush to the skull and isolate extremely well.
Also, S-Logic PLUS has an added benefit:
psychoacoustically, audio seems much
louder than it actually is. That means you
get the same perceived level while playing
your tracks or mixes 3 dB lower than you
usually would. This improves isolation
considerably. Add to that the fact that a
vocal sounds positively thrilling in these
headphones, and you have a confidence
monitor that really does inspire confidence!
I haven't mentioned the simple act of
listening for enjoyment, and that's another
area where the PRO 900i is a standout.
S-Logic PLUS does fascinating things to
music, different on every album but always
immersive and quite beautiful. Bass is rich,
deep, and sumptuous without being woofy
or resonant, the mids seem to float above
and in front of the soundstage with exceptional clarity, and music at 96 kHz really
shows off the endless clarity of the highs.
The fact that you can listen at lower levels means that you can have much longer

listening sessions without fatigue, and the
overall listening experience is simply delightful. My personal preference is to hear electronic music with them, but I have to admit
that Americana and acoustic jazz and country tracks also sound glorious. Acoustic bass
in the hands of someone like Charlie Haden
is magical, and it's so much fun to pick out
fine nuances in drum tracks, guitars, hand
percussion, strings... the list goes on.

Conclusions
As long as you know what you're getting
into when you use Ultrasone headphones,
you can be assured of an amazing
experience. These headphones open up
sound in a way you've never heard before,
and will provide great service for a variety of
studio chores. Just be careful you don't lose
a whole day (or two, or three) rediscovering
your record collection with them!

PRICE: $549.95
MORE FROM: Ultrasone,
ultrasone.audio/en/

http://www.transaudiogroup.com

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